Blackout
by ilazbotron
Summary: A mysterious blackout leaves the team in the dark...and in danger. Will they be able to save the day? No Gwen, so sorry if you like her. Contains Janto traces. Please read and review!
1. Something's Coming

_Hello! Thankyou for reading my story!_

_**Warning:**__ Mild coarse language. (well, duh: Owen)_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Torchwood. Or any of the characters. Or the Weevils. (Ew. Who'd want to own a Weevil? *shudders*)_

**Blackout**

Chapter 1-Something's Coming

Owen Harper put down the scalpel he was previously holding and pulled off the rubber gloves he hated so much. Jack, who was standing at the top of the flight of stairs leading down into the medical area raised his eyebrows at him.

"Well?"

Owen sighed.

"Death by Weevil, as my original assessment stated. What are we doing with the body?" He looked at Jack, who shrugged.

"Ianto, I suppose." He turned and went to find him.

Owen was left with the prospect of filling out several forms and entering the information on the database._ Surely there is another way I could be spending my Friday night,_ he thought. _Instead of having a good time, I'm autopsying a loser who got in the way of an oversize rat._ He set about marking the position of the wounds and listing a description of each on one of the forms waiting on his clipboard.

"Jack? There was a small Rift spike about a minute ago...nothing unusual in size though." he heard Tosh call from her computer.

"Well, then, why the hell are you telling me, Toshiko? I'm not interested in the minute workings of the Rift, you know." Jack said.

"Yeah, I know...it's just...um, it's not unusual in size, but it's strange in that my Rift Predictor has no spikes until Sunday morning." Tosh called back.

"Well, could your software need tweaking?" Jack, judging by the direction his voice was coming from, was now standing next to Tosh.

"Uh, no. I did that a few days ago. And upgraded the scanners...which is why I'm picking up this. I suppose it could just be that the program is taking a while to work properly. It's only a small spike, so it can't be anything big. One person, maybe. Oh!" Tosh's voice changed to the slightly excited tone of someone getting an idea. "Maybe, it was someone with some kind of travelling device that relies on the Rift. Anyway, it could probably wait. Don't worry."

"Well, then, you could have just thought that entire process out in your head and I wasn't needed for any of it. Take note in future." Owen could practically hear Jack roll his eyes. Just when he thought that he could get on with his autopsy report in relative quiet, Jack yelled out to Ianto.

"Hey! Ianto! How are those coffees going?"

"They won't be a minute, sir." Ianto's voice drifted back.

"Alright, I'm timing!" Jack smiled. He could always rely on Ianto to be on time. Especially if you were the one holding the stopwatch. "56 seconds, 54, 53-"

"Will you shut up? I'm actually trying to work here, instead of lazing around being irritating!" Owen snarled at Jack. He'd collected his paperwork to do at his desk, because he figured that it would be easier than writing on a clipboard standing up. He threw them on his desk, and they hit the side instead, drifting to the floor in a messy heap. Owen swore, and snatched them up, plonking himself into his chair. Ianto entered the scene with a tray of coffees.

"Aah, Ianto, my saviour!" Jack said, taking one as it was offered to him, and winking at Ianto. Tosh smiled gratefully as she took hers and Owen scowled but took one anyway.

"Where's Gwen?" Ianto said, fingers curling around the handle of one of the two remaining cups.

"Oh, she went home. Something about 'she'd missed too many dinners with Rhys', and 'she'll be back really early tomorrow to make up for it'." Jack explained. Ianto nodded, looking at the extra cup. "Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you." Jack looked at the coffee, then at his cup, then back at the coffee. "Hang on." He gulped the rest of his cup, then put it on the tray. He took Gwen's would-be coffee. Ianto raised his eyebrows.

"Hey, we can't let good coffee go to waste, can we?" Jack smiled as he started to drink. Ianto shrugged and sipped his coffee.

They were discussing the dead man lying in the cryo storage when suddenly the lights went out.

"What the hell?" Owen said. They could hear a thunk as he put his cup down. He'd spilt coffee on his shirt before, and he didn't want to repeat that fiasco.

"Ianto, what's happening?" Jack said. Trust Jack to be the first one to turn to Ianto in a crisis.

"I'm not sure, sir. There wasn't any flickering of the lights, so it can't be the lightbulbs, so it must be the power. A blackout."

"Well, why hasn't the backup generator come on-line?" Tosh said. There was a faint 'clink' as she, too, put her cup down.

They could hear Tosh tapping on her keyboard, pressing a button, then clicking her mouse. "Computers are all down."

"I have no idea. And the computers are down, so we can't scan...I'm going to check the generator." Ianto said. They could hear him opening a drawer. "Tosh, where's your torch?"

Tosh scrabbled around on her desk.

"Aah, thankyou. Handy. Hmm...ah! Found the switch." There was a 'click' as he turned it on.

The light filled the Hub, casting long, creepy shadows. Ianto shined it on the others. Tosh squirmed away from the beam.

"Ouch, Ianto, you shined it in my eye!"

"Oh, sorry, Tosh." Ianto said. He pointed the light upwards. It shined for a few more seconds, then it slowly faded out.

"Tosh, are there new batteries in this?" Ianto said.

"Uh, yeah, there should be. I replaced them last week...and I've not used it since..." she said in a slightly confused tone. She rummaged around in one of her desk drawers and handed Ianto more batteries. There was a click as he put them in place, but the light still remained dark.

"Ianto, why isn't the power on yet? The backup generator isn't hooked into the main power grid, right?" Jack said.

"Yeah...maybe it's faulty. But it shouldn't be, because I check it frequently..." His voice trailed off into the darkness.

"What are you thinking?" Jack said. He alone could read Ianto's voice, especially in the dark.

"Maybe...maybe that it's not just a normal blackout. Like, it's not just any power shortage, or surge. Maybe there's something, well, suss, about it. I mean, come on. The torches aren't working. With new batteries." His voice remained level.

"Great. Stuck in a suspicious darkness, at work, with...you guys...no torches...on a Friday. Fuck! Today has just gone to shit!" Owen said grumpily.

"Well, well, Mr Grumpy Face, at least some of us are prepared for this kind of situation...Ianto, come here and help me." Jack said. There was a scraping noise as he got up and the chair slid back.

"What assistance do you require, sir?" Ianto replied, also standing up, albeit much more quietly.

"I have candles in my office, in one of my drawers. There are some matches too. They should work. Come on." he said, then paused. "Actually, Tosh, Owen, you'd better come too. We don't know what caused the darkness, and I'm not leaving the medic and the techie, two of the people that could help us the most, alone in the dark. Hurry up!" They could hear his footsteps fall on the stairs. Owen stood up. He could feel Tosh slide unsteadily to her feet in the darkness next to him.

"Tosh?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"Here, take my hand. I don't want to be having to treat people in the darkness. You go first." He motioned forwards, although in the pitch black it was pointless. Tosh walked uncertainly forwards, stepping slowly and cautiously. When they reached the stairs she let go of his hand and gripped the railing. Halfway up, she missed a step and fell backwards onto Owen.

"Hey, watch it! Be more careful! That was my stomach!" Owen grumbled as he helped her carefully to her feet.

"Sorry, I...missed the step. I didn't mean to land on you." Tosh said sheepishly, and Owen could practically feel her face going fire engine red in the blackness.

"Hey, kiddies! Hurry up, I've found the candles!" Jack called. There was a striking noise and then the steady sputter of a flame. "Now, Ianto, get me that glass bottle...yeah, that one. Here, put the candle in it. Mind the coral! It's...endangered. And special. And dripping candle wax on it is not making it grow any faster! Oh, that's better. I can see again."

"Well, now that you've seen the light, could you bring it over here? Tosh has already tripped up once, and she might not be so kind as to land on my stomach next time." Owen called out. There was an orange glow as Ianto appeared at the top of the stairs with the candle, now burning steadily in its makeshift holder.

"A beer bottle?" Owen said sceptically.

"Hey! We're running on low supplies here!" Jack said, appearing next to Ianto. "Like to see you come up with something better, Mr Grumpy Face." Owen scowled. Tosh stopped in front of him on the stairs, and he ran into her.

"Ouch, Owen!"

"Well, maybe next time you should warn people behind you that you're stopping suddenly!"

"How do you suggest I do that? Attach a brake light?"

Ianto reached out and helped Tosh climb the last few stairs. He turned around, leaving Owen to find his way in the blackness.

"Thanks, Ianto. Some butler you are."

When they were all assembled in Jack's office-Jack lounging in his chair, Tosh sitting on the side of the desk, Ianto leaning against his precious filing cabinets and Owen sitting on the floor next to the door, playing with a piece of string-they began to discuss what could have caused the blackout, swapping theories and ideas.

"Hey, guys, maybe it's just a freak loss of power." Owen said, his voice tinted with a slight tinge of hope.

"Yeah, a freak loss of power that mysteriously drains torch batteries. Riiiight. For sure." said Jack.

"Hang on. I just had an idea. When you said 'drained', I thought, what if something is draining power?" Ianto said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I mean, that would account for the torch batteries being drained..." Owen said.

"Wait, guys. Now I've got an idea. Everyone, take out your mobiles." Tosh instructed them.

They all did. The room brightened considerably with the added glow from the small screens.

"Okay. Watch the battery symbol." Tosh said, still in the same schoolteacher-y voice.

As they watched, the battery symbols on their phones started to drop.

Jack's phone was the first to die. Then Owen's, Tosh's and finally Ianto's.

"Okay, that was strange." Jack said, staring at the now dark screen. He pressed the 'power' button several times, but to no avail. The screen remained frustratingly dark. "There's not even a bit of battery left. And I charged it yesterday..."

"My point exactly. Something is draining the power." Ianto said, his face oddly illuminated in the flickering candlelight.

"Wait, all of the doors are electrically powered, right?" said Owen. "And there is no way that we can open that door without electrical help. And all the other doors deadlock in a blackout. We're stuck in here."

"Gee, thanks for that cheerful thought, Owen." Jack said sarcastically.

Tosh whimpered.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Ianto.

"I...I don't like the dark. I'm actually quite scared of the dark. Apparently I'm nyctophobic, or something." said Tosh. They could see her embarrassment, even in the dim light of the candle. Jack put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine. After all, we're together, and hey, I'm here!"

"A great comfort, I'm sure." Owen said, rolling his eyes.

The conversation ebbed as they pondered their situation.

In the distance, something thudded.

"What's that?" Tosh asked. "Don't the cells lock down when there's no power?"

"Yeah...shh...see if goes again." Jack whispered.

There was another thud. And another. They were getting louder.

"Whatever it is, it's coming...here. Jack! Blow out the candle!" Owen whispered urgently. Jack opened his mouth to protest, but Ianto put his hand over it, leaned over and blew the candle out.

There was another thud. Louder now. It was accompanied by a strange shuffling noise.

Something was out there, in the darkness. And it was getting closer and closer.

_**Author's Ramblings:**_

_Ooh, suspenseful! (sorry it was so long. The next couple of chapters are going to be shorter. Maybe :D) As a general rule, I don't write scary stories (they are not my forte), so...it probably won't be really scary. Heh._

_Maybe Russel. T. Davies can help me. I mean, come on! Countrycide was the freaking scariest TW ep that I've seen! *shudders*. That may be due to the fact that my parents decided that going on a farmstay in the middle of nowhere for 2 weeks of holiday was an excellent plan. And I saw a dude the other day that looked exactly (like, I'm talking duplicated identical-twins lookalike here) the same as the cannibal police guy. :s_

_So I may have to resort to using the extensive knowledge of creepy TV that I have picked up. Not just TW. DW (Blink freaked me out so much! It was all okay, like 'it's just a TV show' but then there was that creepy 'Don't blink. Don't even blink...' Doctor voiceover bit with the pictures of the famous statues and I was so scared...and also Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead. Hey, did R.T.D write those? I think so...man, that guy is t-wisted!), and Silent Witness, Bones, NCIS...all of those shows have creepy eps. Maybe I'll turn out to be better at this 'creepy' genre than I expected. Heheh._

_Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou for reading!_

_Uh, if you're gonna review (you utterly should, I love reviews) then thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou!_


	2. Three Days To Save The World

_Hello, again! I have slightly given up trying to make the whole thing scary, cos it would've ended up way too overdramatic._

_**Warning:**__ Owen only swears once, but still._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Torchwood, or the TARDIS coral. But, I'd like to. Just think: a Grow-Your-Own-TARDIS. That would be totally awesome._

Chapter 2- Three Days to Save the World

As whatever it was that was coming through the darkness got closer, Tosh whimpered again.

"Come here." said Owen quietly, still sitting by the door. She slid off the desk, quietly, and they could hear her sit down on the floor, presumably next to Owen.

Jack's chair squeaked as he eased himself out of the chair and against the wall.

"Ouch, watch out for my foot." Ianto said. As Jack sat down, the stairs creaked.

It was coming closer.

The footsteps got louder and louder. Whatever it was shuffled up to the door, and Ianto took a deep breath. Jack shushed him, so quietly they almost couldn't hear him.

The door lock creaked, but didn't give way. There was a soft crack, and the door swung open.

They could all sense something come in through the doorway. It stood in front of Jack's desk. They could hear it breathing raspily in the almost unnatural silence. There was the soft sound of shuffling paper. Then silence. As though satisfied that whatever it appeared to be searching for wasn't there, it turned and shuffled back out the doorway. It closed the door with a gentle thud and they could hear the lock click shut behind it. The noise of footsteps retreated back down the stairs.

Even though it was gone, everyone held their breath for what seemed like an eternity. Then, there was a creaking noise that was familiar to all of them-the main door. It slammed shut, and the banging noise meant that whatever it was, was climbing the stairs towards the outside world. It was gone.

For now.

Ianto let out his breath.

Owen swore.

Jack groaned frustratedly.

Tosh was silent.

Then, Ianto struck a match and lit the candle again, fumbling around to find the jar. The room was once again filled with a warm, flickery glow. Jack stood up, and stretched his arms. Ianto looked at him with a worried expression on his face. Owen, still sitting next to the door, had his arm around Tosh, whose head rested on his shoulder, her eyes shut tightly.

"You can open your eyes now. It's gone, and Ianto's lit the candle." Owen said, more gently than he normally would. Tosh opened her eyes, slowly. Jack, who was watching the two of them with a faint smile, swapped a look with Ianto. Owen shot death looks at the pair of them. Tosh stood up, followed by Owen.

"Okay, now that we're all...present...and accounted for, what was it doing?" Jack said.

They were silent.

Ianto was shuffling the papers on Jack's desk around, looking for something.

"What are you doing, Ianto?" Jack said.

"Looking, sir. I thought I heard the...whatever it was...put something down. Or take something." He stopped searching and looked at Jack, who motioned for him to continue. He kept shuffling. "Ah. Here we go," he said, easing an envelope from under the dish containing Jack's precious coral. "This wasn't there before."

"Careful with the coral, guys!" Jack said, putting the dish in the middle of his desk.

"It's just coral, Jack. Get a grip. What are you, a marine biologist?" Owen said.

Tosh stepped forward and studied the coral.

"What species is that? I've never seen anything like it. It looks...almost wooden. And it's a strange texture...not like underwater coral at all." She looked questioningly at Jack.

"It's an...uh...tardisius coralius. Yeah." said Jack. "And, more importantly, how do you know about corals?"

Tosh gave him a strange look.

"There's no such 'tardisius coralius' coral. You made that up, right?" Jack shrugged. "Oh, I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I was in high school-I loved science, computers and maths. And then, one day, our science teacher was telling us about corals, and I was interested...and then one of my close friends ended up studying marine biology, so...yeah. I know about corals. Is this an alien species?"

Jack patted the coral gently. "Kind of."

Ianto sighed, and waved the envelope in front of Jack's face.

"Returning to our current dilemma..." he said.

"Ah, yes." Jack said, taking the envelope and examining it. "No, I've never seen this before. It must have been put there."

"Well, then, open it!" Owen said.

"O-kay." Jack gently eased the envelope open. It was a fairly old piece of paper, judging by the musty smell and yellowing colour. He handed the envelope to Ianto, who put it in his coat pocket.

"It's addressed to me." Jack said. "I'll read it aloud."

"Dear Mr Harkness..." he began. "They always forget the 'Captain'. Anyway, 'Dear Mr Harkness, I think that you and your team will figure out your predicament sooner rather than later. You're clever people, aren't you? A tip: never underestimate your opponent. Your measly planet is our plaything. We are a mighty species, Mr Harkness, and it would be dangerous to misjudge our capabilities. You have 3 days to save your world, or the human race will be extinct, and Earth will be no more. Good luck saving the planet." He finished. "There's no name."

"3 days? No power? No lights? No guns?" Owen said. "This is going to be a piece of cake. Not."

Jack looked at Ianto in horror. Of course. Standard protocol meant all their weapons that could have been useful were locked into a literally impenetrable room.

"3 days to save the planet." said Tosh. She looked worried.

"We'd better mail out the apology cards." Owen said sarcastically. "We're fucking screwed."

_**Author's Ramblings:**_

_Aah, a shorter chapter. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen, but I have a pretty good idea. I'm not telling~! *spoilers*_

_I'm just starting to get into the 'rhythm' of writing this. If you liked this chapter (or even if you didn't), please review!_

_Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou for reading!_

_Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou if you reviewed!_


	3. The First Attack

_Bonjour! Hey, a third chapter already! I'm impressed with myself. It must be this lack of things to do on holidays. *grin*_

_**Warning: **__This chapter is slightly spooky, and there's mild swearing._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Torchwood, or Jack's paperknife._

Chapter 3- The First Attack

"Okay, guys." said Jack. "Don't panic. We'll figure this out."

"Oh, yeah, of course. It'll be a cinch, no problems." Owen said sarcastically. He crossed his arms and looked at the captain. "Have you got any ideas?"

"No. But," he said, as Owen made a 'there-we-go, I-told-you-so, and we're-screwed all rolled into one' gesture. "We'll think of something."

"I have an idea." said Tosh, who had been quietly discussing something with Ianto while Jack and Owen bickered.

"See?" said Jack, like a child trying to prove his point. "What is it?"

"Me and Ianto have agreed that we're okay with going downstairs to check out what's happened. We'll try and get some weapon-like things, and Ianto says that in one of the filing cabinets down there, there's a box of candles, food and water. An emergency kit. We'll also try to suss out what's actually happening, instead of standing around fighting like children." She spat the last word out angrily, and raised her eyebrows at Jack, who nodded.

"Okay. Here," he said, giving them the candle. "Hang on." He pulled out another candle, lit it off the first one, and stuck it in an empty coffee mug. "Go. And don't die."

Ianto sighed.

"What? Scared, are we?" Owen said.

"No. Wax is a bitch to clean off cups, that's all. Come on, Tosh." he said, taking Tosh's hand and steering her out the door. Owen sunk back down onto the floor, drumming his fingers for lack of something else to do. Jack sat back down in his chair, staring blankly into the flame.

In the quiet, menacing darkness the Hub seemed strangely sinister. Tosh shuddered, and stepped closer to Ianto.

"I don't like this at all." she said quietly.

"Yes. Something seems wrong, doesn't it? It's too quiet, even for a blackout." He held the candle closer to him, casting light on the ground before them. They reached Tosh's desk, and she bent down, and opened the bottom drawer. Pulling out the bottom, there was a hidden compartment. In it was some money, a lethal-looking knife, a gun (with bullets) and various other bits. She collected them up and placed them into her pocket, and handed Ianto the gun. She took the knife. Ianto cocked the gun, and handed Tosh the candle.

They'd just started back to Jack's office with the candles when they heard a noise.

The same footsteps. The same strange, shuffling noise. The raspy breaths.

Behind them.

Tosh grabbed the arm of Ianto's coat. He turned still as a statue, whether he was scared or alert, it was hard to tell. He took a deep breath and spun around. Tosh, holding on to his coat, was forced to turn around too. The candle light flickered.

Oh, God. Please, no. Stay alight! Please! Tosh begged the candle silently.

It sputtered and went out.

"Shit." Ianto said under his breath. "Tosh, stay close. Very close."

From the darkness in front of them they heard a raspy voice whisper.

"Time is running out, humans. Your feeble energy will not last for long."

There was a swishing noise, like that of a cloak, and Tosh screamed.

Sitting, waiting anxiously in Jack's office, Owen and Jack heard Tosh scream. It was a terrible noise, cutting through the eerie silent blackness like a knife. Owen jumped to his feet. Jack grabbed a paperknife and a pair of scissors.

"Here." He handed the scissors to Owen, who looked at him with a 'you-can't-actually-be-serious' look on his face. "Just take them. Hopefully we won't actually have to defend ourselves with them."

Owen swallowed and grabbed the bottle with the candle. He was heading for the door when Jack put his hand out to stop him. He turned. It was clear from his facial expression that he cared more about Ianto and Tosh, especially Tosh, than he let on. He was letting his tough, cynical mask slip, and that worried Jack.

"What?"

"Be careful. Tosh might have just slipped over or something."

"With a scream like that? Bullshit." He headed for the door.

Back downstairs, Ianto pointed his gun into the darkness. He couldn't shoot, in case he hit Tosh. But it made him feel slightly more safe.

The same, raspy voice whispered something. Tosh whimpered, and he could hear her struggling. Clearly, whatever was in the darkness had her as a hostage.

"Let her go." Ianto said, more boldly than he felt.

"Or what are you going to do, human? What makes you think your primitive bullets can hurt me? I am a child of Hecate. I feed on light and energy. I live in darkness. I have the upper hand. You are nothing more than food to me. And I'm hungry...so hungry..."

There was a slurpy, wishy-washy kind of noise, like liquid being sucked through a straw. Tosh screamed again, and screamed, and screamed. Her cries echoed around the silent room, making them seem ten times more terrifying. The noise stopped, and Tosh's screams trailed off. There was another 'swoosh' noise, and then the unmistakable thump of a body hitting the ground.

"Tosh!" Ianto called. "Tosh! Can you hear me? Where are you? Tosh!"

There was a faint moan from about a metre in front of him.

Ianto stepped forward cautiously, then his foot hit something soft. He bent down. There was footsteps behind him and he spun around, but it was just Owen, holding a lit candle, and Jack, holding a paperknife.

"Give me the candle." Ianto said calmly. Owen handed it over. Ianto shone the light over Tosh. There were no real injuries apart from some scratches on her neck. But she was unconscious, feverish and shaky. Jack, looking over Ianto's shoulder, took a sharp breath. Owen swore softly. Ianto handed him the candle wordlessly and picked Tosh up.

"Come on. We need to get her back to your office. I'll tell you what happened when we get there."

_One of Ianto's greatest assets,_ Jack thought,_ is his ability to remain calm and level headed in a crisis. Such a manly quality..._

Owen appeared suddenly.

"What the hell! Give some warning, Owen!" Jack said sharply. "What's that?"

"A medical kit. I'm the medic."

"No shit." said Jack, less sharply. "Come on. Ianto needs the light."

Owen followed, his senses on edge for any movement or noise, adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream. Whatever they were facing was still here. And deadly. Any one of them could be next.

_**Authors' Ramblings:**_

_Ooh, spooky chapter! I wanted something dramatic to happen! And considering that Gwen is stuck outside the Hub (so I don't think she'll feature in this story), I made Tosh get hurt. Even though Tosh is like my third fave character. Also, it lets me make Owen show his nicer side. (I was shocked to find that he has one, too.)_

_Did you like this chapter? Suggestions? Praise? Constructive criticism? Please review! :D_

_Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou for reading! You are making me happy!_

_Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou if you reviewed! You, too are making me happy!_


	4. Formulating A Plan

_Sorry about the horrible length between updates! I had massive story block. Forgive me?_

_**Disclaimer: **__ I own nothing. Sadly._

**Chapter 4****-Formulating A Plan**

Having managed to carry Tosh back to Jack's office (which was quickly turning into a mini-Hub), Ianto put her down on the ground as gently as he could manage. Jack set about lighting more candles, in various jars. Owen immediately set about checking Tosh.

"So, what's wrong with her, Mr Medical?" said Jack. He managed to pull off a much lighter tone than he was feeling.

Owen screwed his face up. "I have no idea. It's impossible for someone to have all the possible causes of these symptoms. They'd be dead. Very dead. It's as though that...thing sucked the life out of her. Literally."

Jack sighed.

"Great. Now the enemy has one up on us, plus superpowers? Not fair."

Ianto said nothing, putting a pillow under her head and a blanket on her shivering body.

"How long's it going to take her to regain consciousness?" Jack asked, putting his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. "She's burning up, by the way, Owen."

Owen glared at him. "No, Jack, with my medical degree, I couldn't tell at all. I honestly don't know when she's going to wake up."

Nobody said 'if'.

"Okay, then." said Jack, clapping his hands. "Who's hungry?"

Ianto had managed to find some army-style ration packs. Jack smiled as he opened the little tin, checking what was in the packets.

Owen shook the tin next to his ear. Inside, things rattled. Things that didn't exactly sound out the word 'delicious'. He shrugged, opening the box with a 'pop' noise. After surveying the contents with an expression of distaste, he turned to Ianto.

"Hey, genius? There's no water in here." he said, disgruntled.

Ianto smiled, said nothing and pointed to the box sitting at his feet. Several large bottles of water glistened from inside their plastic bottles.

"Oh." said Owen, shooting daggers at Ianto before continuing to grumble about the rations.

About half an hour later Tosh woke up. She sat up, feverish and shaky.

Owen shot to her side like a puppy.

"Hey. Feeling okay?" he asked, sitting next to her and, wrapping her up in the blanket, pulled her close to him.

Jack noticed the two and gently nudged Ianto with a 'hey, look at the two lovebirds' look. Ianto looked and smiled, shaking his head.

Tosh made a 'so-so' wave of her hand and snuggled into Owen's chest.

"I've been better, I 'spose." she said quietly.

Jack laughed. "Well, I've seen you looking worse." he said. Tosh smiled at him, but Ianto and Owen looked confused. They had no idea about Tosh's life before she came to Torchwood.

"So, how do you feel sick?" asked Owen, reaching for the medical kit-which seemed to have some kind of magnetic connection to him.

"Umm...my stomach hurts, head hurts, my...bones hurt? I didn't know it was possible to hurt in your bones, but it is, apparently. Uh, I think I'm running a slight fever, and my throat's really dry." She twisted her head to look at Owen. "How was that for a medical analysis?" she asked.

He smiled back at her. "Not bad, Tosh. Not bad at all."

Later on, after Tosh had almost drunk an entire bottle of water, Owen had tried the ration packet and spat it out, refusing to eat it ("I'll take starving, thanks."), Ianto had come to the realisation that there was no coffee and slunk into a corner, grumbling about the entire situation and Jack had sat in his chair spinning around, trying to work things out in his head, and wondering what he could swap with other people so he could have the best brain food possible, the Captain called a meeting.

"Okay, team!" said Jack. "Meeting! My office, now!"

Owen sighed.

"Sorry," said Jack. "Force of habit."

Owen sighed again.

"So, okay. Number one most super-duper-ultimately important item on our agenda today." he started.

Everyone in the relatively small space paid attention.

"Who wants to swap with me?" he said, waving a small packet of crackers in the air.

"If the whole time is gonna be like this, I'll kill myself before it's all over." grumbled Owen, as Ianto handed Jack his packet of dried meat and took the crackers.

Tosh patted his shoulder. "If we don't figure out a plan, you won't have to."

_Author's Ramblings:_

_Sooooo...what'd you think? Review, please?_

_Thanks for reading, and reviewing!_


	5. Something's Definitely Wrong

_Well, to make up for my appalling lack of updates, I have finished. Ta-da!_

_**Disclaimer: **__Don't own Torchwood. Just borrowing._

**Chapter 5****-Something's Definitely Wrong Here...**

Gwen was at home when she first noticed that strange things were happening. Her lights kept flickering and dimming, her phone battery mysteriously drained itself and the streetlights outside didn't work.

Not just on her street, either, but the whole city.

The water, usually glittering with the lights of the night-time city, was dark and unfriendly. Not even a ripple was detectable in its dark depths.

The traffic lights were out, and people were having accidents left-right-and-centre, so Gwen decided to walk to the Hub. A chilly wind whipped her hair around as she ran towards the entrance. Even the lights there were out, which was strange...Ianto would have gone mental and replaced them immediately. She wondered if it was alien.

Entering the small 'information' shop, the first thing she noticed was how cold, silent and gloomy it was.

"Ianto? Ianto, are you here? Anyone?" she called. Her voiced echoed strangely in the small room. _Perhaps they've all gone home,_ she thought. _Even though, I'll still check the scanners._

She pressed the red button enabling access to the Hub. Nothing happened. She pressed it again and again.

Still nothing.

_Okay, well, that's strange,_ she thought. _I'll just try calling Jack._

Her mobile was out of battery, and her torch wasn't working. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't going to be able to get into the Hub. The way it was designed meant that she was effectively 'locked out'.

Closing the door behind her, she shrugged confusedly to herself and went to go find Ianto's house, in the hope somebody would tell her the hell what was going on.

Meanwhile, holed up in Jack's small office, the rest of the team was eating and discussing what the hell was going on.

"I have a theory, guys." said Jack through a mouthful of cashew nuts.

Everyone looked at him.

"Ok, well, it seems as though these...things...whatever they are, feed on energy, of all sorts." He motioned to Tosh. "Even life force energy. So, we need to be very careful."  
"No shit, Sherlock." said Owen.

"Anyway, continuing after that thoroughly rude and disrespectful interruption...and for your information Sherlock was a very nice guy. Sure, a little egocentric, but, hey."

Ianto raised his eyebrow and Jack winked at him flirtatiously. Owen made retching noises and Tosh laughed.

"Not the point. However, I was thinking, what if we gave them something that never runs out of energy?" Jack said.

Owen and Ianto looked confused. Tosh, however, fired her neurons instantly and shook her head violently. "Jack, you can't possibly. You don't know if you would survive!"

Ianto cottoned on. "No." he said simply, his face full of worry at losing his precious Captain.

Jack waved his hand at them. "Oh, chill out, guys. I have it on pretty good authority that I'm gonna be here for a while. My Doctor said so."

Owen shook his head. "I think it's dangerous and not a good idea, and I don't even like you, Harkness."

"Well, there's no discussion. That's our only plan. I'll distract them while you guys capture them, or kill them, or whatever you've gotta do. But I'm the only chance the planet's got."

Owen grumbled. "Great. The entire future of the planet in the hands of our mindless Captain. Sure that's going to work out."

Half an hour the team had formed a plan. Jack was going to go out and let the creatures, whatever they turned out to be, 'eat' him, Ianto and Owen would capture them or at least hold them still, and Tosh would shoot the things.

"Hmm. Only flaw in this ingenious plan, Jack?" said Ianto. "We have no weapons. Or nets or anything like that."

"Well, we'll just have to improvise, then, won't we?" said Jack. "I can assure you, I know many a way to tie aliens up."

He raised his eyebrow suggestively at Ianto, who smiled and rolled his eyes. Owen looked at the pair, carefully deadpan.

Tosh, who was looking and feeling much better, was wrapped up in her blanket at Owen's insistence and looking around the room. "Well, I was thinking, what about what's in the safe?" she suggested. "There has to be something in there that's dangerous enough to kill creatures from the dawn of the universe."

Everyone stopped and looked at her.

"Um, Tosh?" said Jack cautiously. "Nobody said anything about these creatures being from the 'dawn of the universe'. Who told you that?"

She looked at them, unconcerned. "It did."

"Oh, okay then. Good thinking, Tosh!" said Jack enthusiastically. He pulled a key out of his pocket and strode over to the safe, unlocking it carefully.

Ianto appeared next to him. Owen and Tosh slowly made their way over, Owen supporting Tosh, who was a bit shaky on her feet.

Jack looked at all the boxes as he took them out.

"Life Knife...no. Resurrection Glove...nope, definitely not. Gun, yes," he said, handing the box to Ianto, who put it on Jack's desk. "Sword, yes. Alien thingy, no."

This went on for some time. Jack had pulled out many things, the majority of which had gone on the 'not useful for our saving the world campaign' pile.

He pulled out a box containing a blood-stained semi-Cyberman helmet.

Ianto froze.

Simultaneously, everyone else realised who the helmet belonged to and Jack carefully put it under his desk, out of sight.

Everyone looked at Ianto. His face, oddly distorted by the flickering candlelight, held an expression that they hadn't seen since the night Lisa had been destroyed.

"Oh, Ianto, I'm so sorry!" said Jack, hugging him tightly. "I forgot that I had that...sorry."

Jack could feel a small wet spot on his shoulder where Ianto's tears had begun to soak through the thin fabric of his shirt.

Ianto released himself from Jack's embrace and turned away to face the wall.

There was an extremely uncomfortable silence.

Ianto turned back from the wall. His face had gone back to neutral, but his eyes told a different story.

"It's okay, guys. Really. I'm fine. Come on, the world needs us." He went back to searching through the cupboards, clearly upset, but equally clearly not wanting to talk about it.

Jack kissed him on the cheek. "I'm really sorry, Ianto." he said gently. Ianto smiled softly at him, then continued to pull boxes out, examine the contents and put them on the appropriate pile.

Owen turned his head away and muttered "Awkward!" into Tosh's ear. She sighed and he put his arm around her waist.

"Come on," he said. "Let's figure out these weapons, okay?"

Tosh smiled at him. "Okay."

_Author's Ramblings:_

_Well, I'm not entirely finished. But very close, ok? Trust me._

_Thanks for reading. And reviewing :D_


	6. The Final Battle

_Final chapter! I hope you like it. Review, please?_

_**Disclaimer: **__Oh, how I wish I own Torchwood. But, I don't._

**Chapter 6-The Final Battle**

The team had managed to salvage a kind of alien gun for Tosh to shoot with and they had also given her a peculiar knife found with a label "Highly deadly to non-human life forms-contains extremely high levels of shock".

Everyone had helped patch together a kind of makeshift net, and Jack had found an emergency light source buried under a mountain of newspapers from another world, important to Jack and nobody else.

"Okay, let's run through the plan one more time. I'm going to go out there and attract their attention. I'm so attractive all of them should come after me, pretty quickly, ok? Then, Ianto and Owen, you're going to throw the 'net' over the things and Tosh, you can throw the light source into the air. It should hover and, judging by the amount of energy they absorb per minute, last about 3. Aim for their heads. Or alternately, their hearts. They could have more than one head. Once they're dead or at least unconscious, we're going to put them in this force-field cage and Owen, you're going to zap them with this...(he held up a strange looking instrument that resembled a ray gun with a huge blaster)...which should kill them once and for all. Got it, everyone?" Jack said, looking at the others' nervous faces.

Everyone nodded.

"Alright. Good. Okay," he said, nervously rubbing his hands together. "As there is a large potential for...mishaps, shall we say...um, say goodbye just in case."

He turned to Ianto and they went into a corner to have a deep discussion about if Ianto would get his coat.

Owen looked awkwardly at Tosh. She blushed.

"Um, Owen?" she asked timidly. "I was thinking...when this is all over...on the pretext we're all still...you know, alive...do you want to...um...go out sometime?"

Owen looked at her with a bizarre expression on his face. It was a kind of mixture of nerves and happiness. "You mean, like...on a date?"

Tosh blushed even more. "Well...yes...I know that it's not the greatest time to be asking, but, hey...I, um, really like...you and well yeah I just thought that...um...even if I didn't...you know...make it...or I died or something...at least I asked, right?" She laughed nervously, talking fast.

Owen laughed. "Okay, for sure."

Tosh stopped talking. "Really?"

Owen smiled gently and pulled her into a hug, kissing her cheek. "Yeah, really."

In the corner, Ianto was trying to persuade Jack to think of something less dangerous.

Jack smiled. "Ianto, it's cute how you look out for me, but, really. I've survived worse. Stop worrying, my love."

Ianto looked more worried than ever.

Jack leant forward and kissed him softly. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. You just have to be fine, Ianto. Stop worrying."

Ianto said nothing, but hugged his favourite Captain.

A few minutes later, when everybody had declared themselves 'ready, sir!' to Jack, and were all equipped and ready to go, Jack turned and faced the three. "Ok, guys. This is it. Just want to say, that you guys are really great. Best team ever. And we are going to succeed, and take down these creepy invaders. And then, we're all going to sit down with a cup of Ianto's coffee, and then we're going to have dinner. Well, me and Ianto are going to have dinner. I think you guys-" he gestured to Tosh and Owen, "-might have other plans, hey?" He winked at them. "Alright, here we go!"

He threw open the office door and strode boldly into the darkness. "Come and get me, you lily-livered bastards! Come and get me!"

Ianto and Owen readied their net.

Jack screamed and that was when the battle for the Earth began.

Jack was screaming as Tosh threw the light globe into the air. It hovered and then cast a bright light over everything. There were about three of the...things hovering over Jack's body.

They looked up, but it was far too late. Owen and Ianto threw the net over them, and, lightning fast, Tosh shot all three of the things in what appeared to be their heads, then threw the 'highly dangerous knife' at one that was still moving

Black liquid spilled out of the bullet holes and onto the floor, and the things fell with a surprisingly loud thud to the ground.

Owen threw the force-field cage at Ianto, who activated it around Jack and the things, and Owen pulled the trigger on the ray gun. A huge bolt of energy zapped around the interior of the cage.

There was a horrible screeching noise as the creatures finally died.

Great streams of energy came looping out of them, re-powering up the city and the Hub.

The lights slowly flickered on as the Hub regained life.

Owen sighed, relieved. "Thank God that fiasco's over!" he said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

Ianto sunk onto the floor, head in hands.

Jack didn't move.

Tosh fainted.

Owen rushed over and checked her head. She regained consciousness pretty quickly.

"Ow, my head," she said, checking the site of impact with her hand, and upon inspection, found her hand covered in blood. "Fantastic." she said sarcastically, before fainting again.

Owen laughed and cradled her gently, calling for Ianto to go get a medical kit.

Tosh woke up on the Torchwood couch, head bandaged and throbbing.

She could see Ianto helping Owen to remove the bodies of the aliens, dressed in an all-purpose protective suit. Eventually Jack laid there peacefully, covered in black goop and blood, but still peaceful-looking.

She got up and went to see how he was. Kneeling beside his body, carefully avoiding the alien goop, she studied him critically. He was breathing, however shallowly, and as she watched he cracked open an eye and smiled.

"And you thought I wasn't going to make it. Pffff." he said quietly. Tosh grinned. "Nice headgear, by the way."

She looked mock-angrily at him and then went to find the medic.

As soon as Gwen noticed the lights coming back on and, running to the Hub, saw strange energy pulses flaring out across the city originating from the building, she raced inside, pressed the button and rushed downstairs to see the others.

Upon entering the Hub, she saw Jack, bruised and grinning, being examined by a grumpy Owen, whom Tosh was watching, smiling. Ianto was off making coffee.

"Oh, my gosh, you guys! What the hell happened?" she said, hurrying over. The Hub was in a pretty messy state, but at least it was still there.

"You know, Gwen?" said Jack smilingly. "I'm not too sure myself."

_Author's Ramblings:_

_Well, I told you I'd figure it out. Please review? :D_

_If you liked it, check out the other stories I've written.  
Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing!_


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